The 1996 Rockies roster boasted the NL leader in home runs and RBI (Andrés Galarraga), the league’s top base stealer (Eric Young, Sr.) and the top guy in runs scored, total bases, extra-base hits and slugging percentage, Ellis Burks. Burks’ line also dazzled with 40 home runs and 32 steals, […]
In his entry for “tater,” Paul Dickson (The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Third Edition, 2009), mentions that “the term may have originated in the Negro Leagues as potato but took on new life when George Scott made a habit of calling his home runs “taters” after coming to the Boston Red […]
For all his gaudy career numbers, Eddie Murray doesn’t possess much in the way of single-year supremacy. There’s an AL-best number of walks in 1984 to go along with the circuit’s best on-base percentage (and the league’s best OPS+) that year, a few seasons with more intentional walks than any […]
In 1972, the Padres pitching staff posted the third most team shutouts in the NL, with 17. Problem was, they were also blanked 17 times, which amounted to the second most in the league. However the computations and balances played out, the club finished the year with a dismal 58-95 […]
Albert Pujols’ first 10 seasons were as close to ideal as any player has ever experienced – a full-time player from day one, no significant time lost to injury or labor issues or global conflict or global pandemic, a start at a very young age, eye-popping numbers throughout. That […]
The Rangers franchise has seen Hall of Fame starting pitchers Fergie Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Bert Blyleven and Nolan Ryan pass through town on their way to Cooperstown. The franchise has boasted of All-Star hurlers like Kevin Brown, Cliff Lee, Kenny Rogers, Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish. But none of these […]
Even with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx in its corner, the AL has played second fiddle to its older sibling when it comes to producing players to reach 400 total bases in a season, with the Junior Circuit having 12 to the NL’s 18. From 1921 (when […]
If they (and we) are fortunate, defending MVPs Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge will end their respective seasons with somewhere north of 150 games played – an almost daily entry across six months of regular season baseball. In contrast, the best pitchers will present their arms and offerings – if […]
In every campaign from 1995 through 2002, Mike Piazza withstood the rigors of catching to emerge, by the end of the regular season, with at least 30 homers as part of his show and tell demonstration of what he did for the spring, summer and early part of fall. That’s […]
As of right now, the big league leaderboard for OPS fans out to reveal a dozen players with a mark above .900. The reigning MVPs – Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani – are there, holding down the top two slots. Kyle Schwarber makes the cut as he positions himself for […]